The Enclave

A PREMIUM ENGLISH LANGUAGE GO MAGAZINE

A Letter from Our Founder

As the rst year of The Enclave draws to a close, I nd myself looking back at some fond memories. The Enclave has
turned out to be everything I wanted it to be, with some minor
setbacks , and some very unexpected developments here and
there.
When the room started, there was just me, and sometimes
my brother for moral support. In a few days, wed managed to
spread word among our friends, and it grew. Within just a few
days we had doubled our numbers to four! Then, as we gained
members, we started to gain volunteers. Without the help
of our volunteers, we may never have le the proverbial ground. When it became
clear that we would grow larger, I began looking for stronger teachers. The ones we
eventually chose were Shygost, an excellent teacher, and Baousai, also an excellent
teacher. With the advent of lessons from Shygost and Baousai, the room almost
literally exploded. Within weeks, the Enclave was the single largest social room on
KGS outside of Computer Go.
As the numbers grew, so did my ambition. We had some wonderful programs
going for a while, and the room gained recognition from some of the beer known
KGS users, including the admins, whom I was constantly pestering with questions.
Alas, a real life change le me with the hard decision to leave the Enclave for the real
world for a while. It took a few months, but Ive now made my return.
And Im so happy I have. Through the Enclave, Ive met people I never would
have, and made some friends that have changed the way I look at the world, politics,
the internet, and life as a whole. Ive passed on learning to people I may never get to
know, and Ive even helped people become beer players than I am.
When I rst founded the Enclave, I thought I might enjoy doing it for a few
months, then I could let it go and it would slowly erode and I would be forgoen
and go back to my niche in KGS and be happy. But instead of eroding, the room
keeps going, instead of being just a room where people come to learn, the Enclave
has turned into a kind of extended family for me, where I dont just help people with
Go, but I get to know them as people and we become friends.
While my purpose in founding the Enclave hasnt changed, the way I do it and
my priorities for it have. Ive learned that Go is not everything, even if it is an obsession. As someone said just yesterday, I enjoy the game while I make friends. Remember, though Go may be a deep road, it is an empty one without friends.
And thats why you, and all of your fellow Enclavers hold such a special place
in my heart. I may never meet you outside of the computer screen, but your words
and your actions have touched lives thousands of miles away.
Thank you all for everything you have done. Heres to another great year, for
many years to come.
~Eric Dunham

Index
Features
2A
Letter From
Our Founder
4
Beginner
Lessons
4 Beginner Life
Lessons
The Object is to Take Control
8
and Death
8 Amateur
BeginnerLife
Lifeand
andDeath
Death
9

Man vs. Machine:

World 9x9 Go
Championships p. 16

9 Amateur
Life and
Death
12
From Heights
Above
Alexander Dinerchtein, 3p
12 A
From
Heights
AboveAlexander
Dinerchtein, 3p
17
Matter
of Life
and Death
17 Insights
Go: A Matter of Life and Death
22
22 A
Insights
32
History of Go
28 A Picture
History Worth
of GoSunjang
Special
35
a Thousand
Moves
31 A
Picture Worth a Thousand Moves
36
Marketplace
30 Marketplace

Go in a Land of Ice and

Snow:
The Norwegian Go
Championships p. 5

Articles
5 Go in a Land of Ice and Snow
10 Future History
18 Man vs. Machine
37 2007 Volunteers and Contributors

From Heights Above:

Alexander Dinerchtein,
Russian 3p p. 12

Beginner Lessons

The Object is to Take Control

by Lamar Bishop

Within the rst few pages of his book, Go - A Complete Introduction to the
Game, Cho Chikun, 9p, makes the point: The object of Go is to take control of territory. At the end of the game, the side which controls more territory wins the game.
Many beginners do not truly understand this concept. Raised on a steady diet
of Checkers and Sorry, they believe that the object of all board games is to capture
their opponents pieces. However, in Go, capturing stones that do not need to be captured is likely to be a wasted move, lead to bad positions and
even cause dead groups.
Diagram 3 shows a typical case. Ile upload
n the last three moves, white has completely surrounded his opponents stones. At move 4, black
has played a tenuki elsewhere, realizing his
stones are dead. Many a beginner would follow
up with A and kill blacks stones.
However, since black cannot hope to save
his surrounded stones, this move is worthless in
the end. Many a beginner is excited to see his opponents stones removed from the board. But if he
wants to win the game, he is best served by playing elsewhere and surrounding territory rather
than killing stones that his opponent cannot save.
To put this in harmony with Cho Chikuns quote, white is already in control
here. He does not need to prove the point. If he does, he is not only wasting a valuable move, but he is also stealing a point from himself by moving inside of his own
territory.
The beginner must not focus on capturing stones, as his instinct will almost
invariably lead him to do, but realize that it is territory, not stones, that win Go. His
restraint will lead to greater control of the board. Such restraint can lead to the difference between a major win or a minor loss.
Be careful what you think while playing Go

The board is a mirror of the mind of the players as the moments pass. When a master studies the
record of a game he can tell at what point greed overtook the pupil, when he became tired, when
he fell into stupidity, and when the maid came by with tea.

Go

In a Land of
Ice and Snow

The Norwegian Go Championships

Far north of where most of us call home, the Norwegians
are putting out record numbers of Go players for their Go
championship.

It was time again for

the yearly Norwegian
Go Championship. So I
packed my bags and got
ready to go.
There were about 35
participants this year,
which was a new record!
The event took place at
the Informatics building at the University
of Oslo, with gobans,
clocks and coee for evEvery move must be carefully considered when you are among the best players in your eryone, so all was set for
country
a successful event.
At the last championship there were around 30 participants, which was
also a record at the time. Go in Norway is growing, which is great! Most of the
growth seems to be comong from the clubs in Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim.
There hasnt been that much activity surrounding the Go clubs in these cities before, so this is really good news. Its exciting to see that clubs are starting to form
in every self-respecting city in Norway. Even though Go in has been around in
Oslo for about three decades, clubs in other cities are still relatively new.
There were volunteers scurrying around seing up the event, carrying gobans, opening doors, bringing the coeemaker and many other things that I had
no time to keep track of. New this year were the gobans; each had an exquisitely
hand drawn number, which made it easier to pair up at the start of each game.
The Championships started out at 10 am on Saturday. Due to a long trip,
the players from Stavanger and Bergen were slightly delayed, so we started out a
bit behind schedule, but everybody was in good sprits, still.
A laptop was used to keep track of the score and pair players. Aer each
game was played, the players entered a win or a loss on the laptop. When all the
games were played, the soware calculated which players should play next.
The rst day had one round, then lunch, another round, dinner and then
the nal round at the end of the day. At lunchtime most people
just relaxed and showed funny Go-challenges to each other. At dinner time, most
of us went two subway stations away to eat at some restaurant. The tradition is
to eat Indian food, but this year the restaurant we had in mind was full, so some
of us ended up at a Chinese restaurant instead. Since a lot of us were involved in
6

mathematics, and computers or who liked XKCD, many a conversation circled

around those topics that night.
The second day we started a few minutes past 10. Its hard to make 35
people meet up at the exact same time, but the atmosphere was relaxed, so there
werent any nervous breakdowns. It helped that people behaved very responsibly and helpfully throughout the championship.
At the end the top
players took turns playing for the grand prize,
which was being sent to
championships in Japan
and Korea. For us mere
mortals there were also
chinese Go books that
we had a chance to win,
but this was considered
a bonus, since its not a
hard rule that they are
there every year.
The winner of the
Norwegian ChampiOpening moves at the Norwegian Go Championship
onship this year was
Morten Ofstad. Congratulations, Morten! For anyone interested, the results
of the championship can be found at: hp://norway.european-go.org/norway/
nm2008.txt
Thanks to all the participants and everyone involved, I hope to see you all
again next year!
Story by Alexander Rdseth
Alexander is a 27 year old Norwegian Go player, currently attending school at the Norwegian University of Science & Technology.
He lives with his family and plays Go on KGS while discussing Linux with anybody interested.
Photos by Andreas Oppeben
7

Beginner Life and Death

Life and death is a vital element of improving ones game. Every problem requires
the player to kill or save a group of stones. In each problem there is a vital point.
The vital point is a brilliant play that will either save or kill the group. Take a look at
these problems and see if you can solve them!

White to kill

White to get the best possible result

White to kill

White to kill

White to kill

White to kill
8

Amateur Life and Death

Tsumego for amateur players. These tsumego are not as easy as the beginner life and
death problems, and some will present a challenge even for fairly good amateurs.
Some are relatively easy, and some are much more dicult. Either way, we hope
your game gets beer!

Black to kill

Black to live

White to move

White to move

White to kill

Black to kill
9

Future History
A review of projects and future goals

by Eric Dunham

From November 16, 2007, when the Enclave was founded, it has been striving to up
the ante and deliver improved service completely free of cost. We have certainly had
our ups and downs, with some very high ups and very low downs. But overall, the
Enclave has put forth its contribution to Go players worldwide, with a modest degree of success.
And to keep that contribution going, we would like to propose a few new projects,
and gauge the overall interest. Please review the proposed programs if you have time
and let us know if youd like to join or help make them a reality! The Enclave is dependent upon volunteers just like you who are willing to set aside some time to promote Go worldwide.
Mentor Program:
The mentor program was an ongoing Enclave project in late 2007 through early 2008.
It enjoyed a modest degree of success, and helped quite a few beginners learn to play
Go beer.
This id the rst program we would like to rebuild, as it is the most eective way to
reach a variety of players. Any former members would be welcome to rejoin, keeping
their previous partners if they like, or geing dierent ones if necessary.
The long-term goal of the mentor program will be to establish a constant cycle of
learning, as previous students may mentor new players in exchange for what they
themselves were taught.
Those with comments or wishing to join as mentors or students, may write to:
mentors@kgsenclave.com
Newsleer:
This is the rst edition of The Enclave, the Enclaves self-titled e-magazine. The
magazine has been a long-term goal of ours, only now being realized aer months of
aempting to start it.
The magazine will provide go problems of all kinds, interviews of professionals and
strong amateurs, reviews of strong games, both current and old, articles on go for
beginners as well as amateurs, and more.
The magazine will be published on an as-ready basis, with the goal being a bimonthly production schedule. There will never be a cost for this publication.
Anyone with the will and the patience is welcome to write an applicable article for
10

this publication; however, all articles submied are subject to editing and/or rejection. This is so we may continue the high standard which we strive to provide to the
Go world.
The long term goal of this project will be to provide a permanent, renewing source of
teaching for Go players to learn from.
Anyone interested in submiing go problems, articles, interviews, quotations or anything else may write to: newsleer@kgsenclave.com
Lesson Records:
Lesson records have been a long-term goal of the Enclave since it was founded, but
there has never been a way for them to be realized. At the moment, we are still trying
to nd a way to make video records of our lessons that are both high quality and easily accessible to our members.
When we have the ability, this program will be one of the rst we implement.
The goal of lesson records is to provide an easily accessible way to access all past
information the Enclave has provided, so that new members may learn immediately
from old lessons and current members may remember material more easily.
Anybody who can provide video, and is willing to record lessons is welcome to contact us at: administration@kgsenclave.com
Advertisement:
The Enclave is a not-for-prot organization; all money donated to the Enclave becomes property of its members, no individual may use it for anything other than
Enclave projects. In the past, the Enclave has made ends meet through generous donations from many people worldwide, but this has become harder as those generous
individuals have fallen upon hard times.
Therefore, the Enclave proposes using advertisment as a way to help make ends meet
once again. Any money made through advertisement will become property of the
Enclaves members, it will not be pocketed by anyone at any point.
The long term goal of advertising is to make the Enclave self-sustainable and to help
it improve general quality.
Anyone interested in advertising may contact: advertise@kgsenclave.com
If anyone has any suggestions for new projects, or if anyone is willing to volunteer to
help with current projects, such as teaching, please contact: administration@kgsencl
ave.com
11

From Heights Above

Alexander Dinerchtein, 3p

Alexander Dinerchtein is a Russian born professional Go player. He is also one of the

most-sought aer Go professionals in the English speaking world. Aer extensive studying
in Korea, he aained professional status, and aerward returned to Russia to spread the love
of Go throughout his homeland.
In recent years, he has founded Go4Go, a website with reviews of professional games.
He has also founded Goama, a free newsleer that includes Go news, interviews with professional players, and game reviews. He also represented Russia in the World Mind Sports
Games 2008.
We managed to catch him right aer the WMSG and ask him a few questions.
12

The Enclave: First of all, lets start at the beginning. It is widely known that at a
young age you competed in both Chess and Go, but as you matured, you leaned
more and more towards Go. Why did you make the switch?
Alexander: My father, who introduced me to both games, is a strong chess player,
but he is only 10-kyu in Go. It was easier to beat him in Go, so I decided to pay more
aention to Go. Soon I was able to beat my father and was very happy about it.
E: Aer you began taking more interest in Go, you studied in your hometown of
Kazan, correct? On your website you state that at the time, Kazan was the center for
Russian Go, and you were surrounded by many stronger players. Has this changed
to any large degree?
A: Kazan is still the strongest Go playing city. First of all, Go is doing well here because of our local Sports Commiee. They budget good money for the best players
and teachers our city can aord.
For example, our Sports Commiee sent seven players from Kazan to the World
Mind Sports Games (WMSG) in Being, their support totaling about 10,000 Euros.
We have 2 professionals (me and Svetlana) and 2 players of almost-pro-strength (Ilya
Shikshin and Andrey Kulkov). I am sure that we can beat any European city easily
on 5-10 boards.
E: By the way, how was the WMSG in Being?
A: Terrible event. They didnt even allow us to watch the games played by other
players! For the rst time in my Go life! Game records were not available, you could
not watch games yourself, you couldnt nd any tournament tables in normal format It was organized by real amateurs that had never played Go themselves.
E: I guess well skip questions about WMSG in the future. In 1996, you and Svetlana
Shikshina were invited to study in Korea under Chun Pungcho, 8-dan pro. What
were your rst impressions of Korean Go? Was it extremely dierent than European
Go? Or was it merely, as you say on your website, at a higher level than European
Go?
A: I was about 5-dan in 1996-1997. Here in Russia I was the youngest player in most
of the important tournaments the Russian Championship, for example. When I
went to Korea I was surprised to nd seven to eight year old Korean kids who were
not only not weaker but sometimes even stronger than me. Take Kim Chiseok, 4p for
example (He played for the Korean team in the last WMSG). He was 7 years old
13

while we were staying at one Go club. He had about a 50-50 score with me and Svetlana. We were probably stronger at strategy, but his reading ability was much beer
than ours. At the age of 7 he was able to solve Go problems beer than 80 percent of
the Korean pros!
Another impression: My teachers spoke really badly about Go books I had studied in
Russia. I was impressed by Kajiwara, 9ps ideas, but they were laughing at him!
E: Did you study Go very dierently in Korea? I have heard from many people that
Asian Go players are more insistent on form and style, whereas Western Go players
are more about the idea of the game. Would you say this is true, or did you have a
dierent impression?
A: I know of only one big dierence. In Korea they dont use computer databases at
all. I dont know why, but they keep all variations in their heads. The main reason
why Koreans are stronger is because they study Go much more seriously some top
professionals never visited any schools or universities.
The average level of a Korean Go lover is six to eight kyu. There are plenty of such
players around the world. But the Koreans are more aggressive and they are usually
beer at reading than at strategy. Thats all. No secrets or special weapons here.

...Koreans are more aggressive and

they are usually beer at reading...

Thats all.

No secrets or special weapons here.

E: How long did you study in Korea?
A: I stayed in Korea for ve years in four dierent clubs.
E: Who were some of your teachers? Who would you choose as your best teacher?
A: I worked with over 20 pro teachers and over ten amateur teachers. Who was the
best teacher? Its hard for me to decide just one person. All of them were very kind to
me.
E: Having participated in Go events in both Europe and Asia, how large would you
14

say the skill gap between the two continents is?

A: If we played a 100 board match, the score between Asia and Europe would be 1000 or maybe 99-1, if we were lucky.
E: In 2002, you became the rst honorary Russian Go professional. How did this
come about?
A: It was the special decision of the Hankuk Kiwon. Chun Pungcho, 8-dan, suggested the idea of giving us 1-dan and most of the other professionals agreed with him.
We were lucky, actually.

If we played a 100 board match,

the score between Asia and Europe

would be

100-0.

E: Would you say you are an average Go professional in Korea, or are you beer or
worse than others?
A: In my last Go club for Korean inseis I was ranked around twelh or thriteenth
place, but suddenly I became a 1-dan. I am prey sure that nowadays there are several hundred Korean kids who are stronger than me, but only few of them will ever
have a chance to become pro. There are 240 professionals in Korea. I am in the bottom 40, I believe, but Im not the last one. I played maybe 15-20 ocial pro games
before I returned to Russia and I won about 30% of my games.
E: In 2008, you and Svetlana Shikshina were both promoted to 3p by the Korean
Baduk Association. First of all, congratulations! However, some speculated that this
was a move to aract aention to European Go, rather than to reect upon your skill
level. What would you say to this? Would you tend to agree, or do you believe your
rank was earned?
A: I feel that my Go has improved since I came back. I also feel that if I stayed in Korea, I could reach 3-dan myself without any help, but what is the dierence? Korean
1-dan players are not weaker than most 9-dans. Dan level is not important at all in
15

Korea. For them, rating is more important, but here in Europe high dan Go players.
get more respect, so I am glad to become 3d.
E: In recent years, you have made a lot of steps to help advance Go in Europe and
the US, such as founding Go4go.net, thus giving average players access to cheap
reviews of professional games, and founding Goama, the e-magazine giving professional interviews and comments of exciting games. What inspired you to do these
things, and who has helped you along the way? Has it been a good investment of
your time, overall?
A: I learned Korean, so now I have to use it if I dont want to forget the language.
Most of the Goama articles are translated from Korean Go sites. Now you know one
of the reasons I keep it up.
E: You also oer Go lessons, easily available over the internet. What has been the
most satisfying thing about teaching Go?
A: I think that today I have the largest internet Go school in Europe. I can make a
living from giving Go lessons and I enjoy them a lot. I learn some things from my
students, too, and they make it so that I have to study a lot myself, so I can explain
modern paerns to them.
E: Being a teacher, may I ask you what you would suggest a beginning student rst
study when they learn to play Go?
A: If you want to become a strong player, you must start with reading. Lots of Life
and Death problems every day! Its not necessary to study strategy at all during the
rst few years of playing. If you start with reading, you will easily learn strategy
with playing experience. But if you start from strategy you will always have reading
problems in your games.
Alexander Dinerchtein
Alexander started playing Go and Chess as a child, but began
focusing his eorts on Go as he grew older.
He achieved honorary Korean 1p status in 2002, and in 2008
became the rst Russian 3p. He currently live in Russia, where
he spends his time promoting Go.

16

Go: A Matter of Life and Death

Because Go players are the only ones who learn by dying
OrangeKyo [13k]: you know... the
winner of a ko bale only gets like
1 more pt than the loser right?

apotheosis [-]: Battousai:

SE says w is winning by 4.5,
so bow on knees, okay?

We can all take comfort in this tidbit that Shygost

points out:

You get strong when you learn to

hate weakness.
classic: You know youve been playing go too much recently when you are
reading a book and you are trying to trap
the words with imaginary stones

Quietp [17k]: if hes called TheOne,

why does he have TWO accounts?

Some scribes are better than others.

Heres an example of a not particularly accurate one:
apotheosis [-]: Battousai: just because you have a two space extension, does not mean you are alive
apotheosis [-]: Battousai: lots of
weak players think its true
apotheosis [-]: Battousai: they do
this dumb stuff, then wonder why
they died
apotheosis [-]: Battousai: well, its
cause they were dumb

We all need help winning once in a while. Maybe we could take a lesson in Subliminal Messaging:
Lynx: In the middle of a game, casually li up a sheet of paper with YOU ARE
LOSING on it in bright pink...
Lynx: then pretend as if nothing is happening, and put it down a few minutes later..
Muley: no, I think you should say I am going to the your bar group would will you
die like a drink too?
Have a funny Go-related story that you would like to share? A favorite Go joke?
Another lame Life and Death pun that we could pretend we didnt base this sections name off of? Maybe you think you can outdo our bad sense of humor?
If you do, send your joke to us, and if we like it, well stick it in the next issue!
Send all jokes to: newsletter@kgsenclave.com
Please be tasteful, all jokes can and will be viewed by children.
17

MAN vs. MACHINE

by Lamar Bishop

In
1992,
TD Gammon,
a computer program,
played at the World Cup
of Backgammon, and achieved an
even record with the best players in the
world. Since then, humans have never been able
to overcome backgammon programs. In 1997, Gary
Kasparov, then-world chess champion, was dethroned by
Deep Blue, an IBM supercomputer. That day, chess ceased to
be a stronghold of human intelligence. And on other fronts,
humans are losing ground to machines. Most board games
are already being won by computers. Humans can still win in
Scrabble, poker, bridge, and others. But computers are already
starting to win those games. The only game where computers really fall short is Go.
Thats because Go is an incredibly complex game, hundreds and
hundreds of times more complex than chess. In chess, there are 1050
possible moves, in Go 2.08x10170 possible moves on a 19x19 goban. On
a chess board, each turn presents just a dozen dierent viable moves,
but in Go, this can jump up easily to a few hundred dierent moves.
Where chess programs can read some 500,000 moves in a second, Go
programs can run only 50 moves in a second. To put it in perspective, a
supercomputer as powerful as Deep Blue could calculate some 200 million
chess moves in a second, but it would take a year and a half to do the exact
same thing in a game of Go.

Therefore Go presents a much greater challenge to computers and their programmers. To even the playing eld, computers and humans face each other on
much smaller 9x9 boards. The smaller boardsize cuts down on the number of possible moves, greatly decreasing the workload for the computer. On a 9x9 goban, Go
programs have already beaten players as strong as 5p in ocial matches.
Around the world, supercomputers are starting to win against strong amateur
players. Soon, even Go will no longer be a game dominated by humans. As processing power increases, and ever more intelligent algorithms are brought to the fore,
computers will begin to win even in this last board game.
In Tainan, Taiwan, at the National University of Tainan (NUTN), the bale was
brought to the front in September during the World 9x9 Computer Go Championships. On September 27, MoGo, a Go program, running on the Dutch National Supercomputer, known as Huygens, faced o against Zhou Junxun, 9p. The event began
on the 25th, with MoGo playing against two amateurs, Professor Dong [5d], and Mr.
Luoh [6d]. MoGo beat Dong in every game, but lost every game to Mr. Luoh.
That same day the forum heard from many speakers, including Dr. Olivier Teytaud, one of MoGos developers. This was followed on the 27th by the main aractionMoGo facing o against Junxun in three rounds.
In Conference Room B309, in Chengzheng Hall, the movers and shakers of the
World 9x9 Computer Go Championships are geing ready for the highlight. The rst
two games will be MoGo versus Junxun on a 9x9 board. As the time draws near for
the rst game, the participants sit and prepare for the game. In front of the computer
is Dr. Olivier Teytaud, one of MoGos designers, who will read the moves o of the
computer and place them on a physical board. Siing beside him is Professor Tsai,
who will be the witness for the game. Across from them sits Zhou Junxun, his face
drawn into a mask of concentration as he prepares for the game. Across the room,
photographers watch and snap pictures as the game begins.

1992TD Gammon achieves an even

score against top backgammon players at
the World Cup of Backgammon

August, 2008Dutch supercomputer Huygens beats Kim Myungwan, 8p on a 19x19

board with a nine stone handicap

1997IBMs Deep Blue beats chess world

champion Garry Kasparov in a traditional
match

Photo by Brian Allen

19

September, 2008Huygens plays against

Zhou Junxung in a three round match for
the World 9x9 Go Championships

Junxun has a lot to think about. MoGo

has been playing decently against strong
amateur players, not well enough to threaten Junxun, but in those games MoGo has
been using no more than half the power
Huygens will bring to bear in this match. In
these rounds, MoGo will be using the full
power of 800 processor cores. Just a single
one of these processors is powerful enough
to beat the average Go player.
Zhou Junxun makes a move during the second round
The tension in the room is a palpable
Photo provided by the National University of Tainan, Taiwan (hp://
go.nutn.edu.tw/)
thing for the players. MoGo will be moving
rst in this game. MoGo makes its rst move at tengen. It is well known that tengen
is the best possible move on a 9x9 board, so this is not a surprise. Junxun places a
stone, Teytaud copies it on the computer screen, and the game begins.
As the game goes back and forth between the liquid screen and the wooden goban,
it becomes apparent that MoGo is winning. At move 11, Junxun stops and examines
the game closely. His turn stretches on for a long time; over ve minutes have passed
since his last move.
Watchers over the internet begin to speculate that Junxun has already lost this
match. Nobody expects Junxun to be able to win against such a powerful computer
on such a small board.
However, Junxun continues the game, in spite of what people were expecting.
At rst his move looks desperate, almost unecessary, like the last-ditch eort of a
losing team. But then, as it plays out, suddenly it becomes clear that Junxun knew
exactly what he was doing. Within another few moves, onlookers have changed their
mind about the game. Everyone agrees the game looks fairly even.
Suddenly, aer just eleven moves, the game doesnt just look even, it looks like
Junxun has won. By move 36, even MoGo agrees, and resigns. Aer the match, Junxun comments, In the rst 9x9 game with MoGo, I was shocked to nd aer eleven moves
that I had already lost the game. I was really very shocked. It took me ve minutes to calm
down and start designing a hamete that the computer could not see and could not reverse.
On the second game, Junxun takes black and makes the rst move. In this second game, he is much more condent and almost immediately he begins to take the
lead. Within 25 moves, the game is decided. MoGo takes another 15 moves and then
resigns. Junxun says, I took black in the second game, and it was a relatively easy game.
Aer a short break, the matches continued with the third game, a full-sized
19x19 match. Because of the enormously larger workload it will be facing, Mogo
takes a seven stone handicap. But unfortunately for MoGo and its developers, seven
stones is not enough. Though Mogo has been able to beat many strong players with
20

eight and nine stones, it seems that is not yet ready to move down to seven stones.
Almost immediately MoGo makes a costly mistake and loses a corner. Mogo
cannot immediately see that it has lost the corner and ends up wasting precious
moves trying to save it. As it struggles to make the dead group live again, Junxun
strengthens his hold on the corner.
The onlookers are not too surprised. Some comment that MoGo could have
kept the corner, but nobody says much else. On a 19x19 board, this is expected.
Aer the rst mistake, Junxun takes each corner of the goban, one by one,
stripping MoGo of its lead. Less than halfway into the game, onlookers are proclaiming the game over. And as MoGo makes mistake aer mistake, they are proved right.
Junxun later says that he gured he had won the game by move 30. Their is
an almost nonchalant air about the way that the internet watchers dismiss MoGo as
unimportant. There has not yet been a computer program that can challenge a professional Go player on a 19x19 board, and this one is the same as all the others.
What many of them are forgeing is that just a few years ago, Go programs
could barely compete with the average club Go player, much less a professional.
But, with the advent of Monte Carlo algorithms, that has changed completely. Where
computers used to barely manage an 8 kyu level of play, they now are able to average low amateur dan play.
As Dr. Jaap van den Herik of Maastricht University said, This is remarkable,
since around 2000 it was generally believed that the game of Go was safe to any aack by a
computer program.
Mr. Junxun may have won the match today, and he may win in the years to
come, but soon it will be much more dicult. Dr. Herik predicts, ...before 2020 a computer program will defeat the best human Go
player on a 19x19 Go board in a regular match
under normal tournament conditions.
For now, Go players laugh at the prospect. But the next few years may tell a very
dierent story.
Many thanks to Dr. Chang-Shing of the National University of Tainan for his help in writing this article!

MoGo TiTan vs. Zhou Junxung

MoGo TiTan vs. Zhou Junxung

MoGo TiTan vs. Zhou Junxung

Seven handicap. Result: Junxung by resign

Result: Junxung by resign

Result: Junxung by resign

21

Insights
Koram [7d KGS] vs. Aguilar [7d KGS]

contributed by Joshua Allen

This is a review of a game played

on October 16, 2008 between Koram and
Aguilar, both KGS 7 dans. White won the
game by resignation.
Our reviewer for this issue is Joshua
Allen, Baousai on KGS, 5d AGA.

Game Notes:

Game Kifu

B3 @ q4 B37 @ q11 B151 @ p10 B197 @ r3

B203 @ q11 B209 @ q11 B229 @ r3 B235 @
r3 B241 @ r3 B245 @ g11 B247 @ r3 W76 @
p11 W186 @ q3 W200 @ p11 W206 @ p11
W224 @ q3 W232 @ q3 W238 @ q3 W244 @
q3
Interesting approach. Some of us might take a
look at this low approach, glance across the board
at the 4-4 stones, and say to ourselves this feels
wrong. If you were aempting to play this game
with a more inuence oriented strategy in mind,
that would be correct.

Diagram 2

White now has a few choices. Some common ones would be A and B, as shown in
Diagram 2. Lets take a closer look at the
results of these moves.

Diagram 1

We can see in Diagram 3 that if white moves at A, we see a common variation. I recommend, if you dont already know this variation, to memorize
it, especially since its so short. It gains black a base without being denied
access to the center. Its one way to sele nicely if youre unsure of what to
do.
Diagram 3

22

The move at B is also possible, however, as youre

glancing at the sequence to come, ask yourself,
why would it be inappropriate here?
If you answered, Because white lacks a stone at
K16 in order to eectively use the newly gained
wall he has created, you would be quite correct!
If we look at Diagram 4, we can see an example of
the result.

Diagram 4

In the game, the players choose standard joseki.

Both white and black get some territory, a tiny bit
of inuence, while keeping some lingering aji (the
cut at f14 and the aachment at f17) for later.

Diagram 5

Aer nishing up the top for now, black chooses

an aggressive approach towards the boom, as
shown in Diagram 6.
If he had chosen a more
peaceful variation at B, as
shown in Diagram 7, both
players would be able to
develop frameworks/moyo.
Diagram 7
However, this is a variation
that black has decided to reject.
Diagram 6

23

Modern (at least to me) joseki.

To some, the aachment at e8 looks strange. Why
go through all that trouble if youre just going to
turn around and dive into the 3-3? Surely your
moves are wasted at that point?
If that is your reasoning, I must say its sound.
However, you might notice that white is now
at on the boom. Sure, the 2 marked stones are
deep in enemy territory (and I use the term territory here loosely), but they arent o the board
Diagram 8
yet! Now the question is raised, how does one
deal with all that aji lingering from them?
White answers most simply by burying them even
deeper, Diagram 9.

Diagram 9

This is a very telling move. White could have

dove into the corner and gained himself some territory.
Looking at the board, we see that white is completely without a corner at the moment. So why
doesnt he?

Diagram 10

24

A variation like Diagram 11 is why.

If white had chosen this, for example, black gets
inuence and doesnt really have many other considerations besides reducing the le

Diagram 11

Now a loose plan is formed.

Black has two weak groups that white can aack,
as shown in Diagram 12.

Diagram 12

Seeing the double threat, black chooses to aid the

original group, abandoning the second.

Diagram 13

25

Aggressive.

Diagram 14

Now this group is in ko, thanks to the aggressive

playing.

Diagram 15

This may not be obvious to newer players, but

what white is doing here is seeking threats for the
ko.

Diagram 16

26

Here we see the value of the ko. But, did white

lose out here? Lets examine more closely.
White had inuence towards the center of the
board and still does.
Black had weak groups toward the center which
could be taken advantage of and those groups are
still there.
Black gains points but loses development along
the top.
Diagram 17

Some might wonder, why not respond to whites

aachment? The reason is simple; he would have
2 weak groups.
As it stands, he still needs to be wary of k17 being
cut o, because of the aachment that lingers at
f17.

Diagram 18

This is the best result that white could hope for.

Once again he has 2 weak groups to assault.

Diagram 19

27

Vital.
Oentimes while we are playing our game we like
to play instinctively. For some of us that would
mean responding to p12 immediately.
To do so, however, would mean that black would
get to connect his two weak groups and not have
to worry about living, just reducing and taking
prot.

Diagram 20

I cannot stress enough just how many points

would be thrown away by allowing that.

Again, do we respond?
This is the point in our ghting that we must force
ourselves to stop and constantly assess what is going on in the game.
Here, it seems that one of blacks groups is on its
way to being alive. Whites group on the right is in
no immediate danger.

Diagram 21

My feeling here is that black cannot live without

a miracle and thus the game is already over.

Diagram 22

28

Black now agrees with me and changes ideas.

Instead of uselessly trying to live, perhaps he can
take enough on the boom to compensate.

Diagram 23

This is a nice defense.

Diagram 24

This is a shape point.

Remember: dont get greedy when you are trying
to live!
Diagram 26 is an example of greed
when trying to take the corner.
Diagram 26

Diagram 25

29

If we follow that greedy path the whole way

through, we get to here.
Now what?
This time, white has two dierent groups that
need to live.

Diagram 27

This is an odd move. White doesnt have to worry

about life anymore.

Diagram 28

I think perhaps this is the variation black wanted.

This would have been great for him. However, as
well see, thats not what happened.

Diagram 29

30

Looking at whites move in Diagram 30, we notice

immediately that this has to die for black to hope
to win.

Diagram 31

So, as we see in Diagram 31, black totally ignores

it.
Very interesting.
Diagram 30

A bit further down the road, and we are back to a

ko.

Diagram 32

Black could take this, but then white would live

and he knows that he cannot allow that.
A few moves
later, and game
over.

Special thanks to
William Shubert,
creator of KGS, for
permission to use
screenshots.
Diagram 33
Screenshots used by permission of William Shubert

31

A Hiory of Go:

Go is an ancient game. In fact, its the oldest game known to man that
is still played as it was in ancient times. Its been known by many dierent
names, been played by royalty in various countries, and decided the result of
real-life bales.
Along with all of that, Go has aquired quite a few variations in rules and
structure. In this issue well be focusing on one of these variants: Sunjang.
Sunjang Baduk (Hangul: ) is an old Korean variant of Go, or
Baduk () as it is known in Korea. Sunjang enjoyed a Golden Age in Korea from the 16th to mid-20th centuries, during
which it was almost the exclusive variant of Go
played in Korea. There is evidence that Koreans
also played open board games during this time
as well, but Sunjang was a much more popular
version. During the early 20th century, modern
Go spread to Korea from Japan. Korean players accepted the new rules as an improvement
over old rules, and for a while played both versions alongside each other, but as time went on,
Sunjang became less and less popular as players
began to think of the Japanese rules as the prod- Cho Namchul, Pioneer and Father of Korean
Go, helped solidify the end of Sunjang Baduk
uct of a superior modern culture.
In 1945, Cho Namchul (), the Pioneer and Father of Korean Go, returned to Korea from studying Go in Japan,
and immediately went about founding the rst private Go school in Korea, the
Hansung Kiwon ( ). In his new school, Cho taught the Japanese version of the game, which cemented Japanese rules as the accepted version in
Korea.
The main dierence between Sunjang and modern Go is in the very
32

beginning of the game, before any players have made a move. Both players
set eight stones on prescribed points of the
board. This is called poseok (), a word now
equivalent to fuseki. Aer the stones have been
placed for poseok, the move virtually prescribed for black is cheonweon ()tengen.
Though the black player is not required to play
at tengen, it is widely considered to be the best
move he can play. Diagram 1 shows the poseok
and rst move of Sunjang.
Because of the placement of the stones,
once the players have nished poseok, the
Diagram 1: Poseok and blacks rst move at
cheonweon

game leads immediately into

a erce jungban ()chuban, or middlegame. The violent middlegame is impossible
to avoid, every single move
made builds tension with the
pre-placed stones.
In Diagram 2 we can see
an example of this from the
Last Game between Chae
Keuk-mun ( ) and No
Sacho ( ). Within just a
few moves, both players must
take the defensive, while simultaneously keeping up an
Diagram 2: Sunjang openings cannot help but be violent
oensive so that their opponent does not gain an advantage.
Note that none of the groups appear to be alive right away, and that major
threats are ignored for bigger ones. In just a few moves, this game has turned
into the passive players nightmare.
As the game progresses, it gets even more ferocious and dicult. Weak
groups are abandoned in favor of large points.
While neither player is willing to lose a large group, they are also unwilling to give up even larger areas to defend them.
33

Such playing is typical of Sunjang games, it is in the nature of the game.

From the moment that the poseok has been laid, the board is set for a ght.
The second way that Sunjang diers from modern Go is in scoring. Diagram 3 shows the end position of the Last Game. In modern Go, dead stones
are removed and territory is then counted up. If the Last Game were scored
like this, we would see a position like Diagram 4.
But in Sunjang, all unecessary stones are removed from the territory before scoring. If the stone doesnt hold territory in, it is removed before scoring.
An example of this can be found in Diagram 5.

Diagram 3

Diagram 4

Diagram 5

The scoring method

is a cross between modern
Japanese scoring, where no
stone has any point value,
and modern Chinese scoring, where all stones are
worth a point. Though
stones are not worth points,
placing stones in your territory will not take away
points.
Sunjang is a great option for players who would
like to strengthen their chuban, or an exciting game
without the option of being
calm or, lets face it, boring.

B45 at n1
B47 at q2
B157 at s15
B173 at q2
B177 at l3
B185 at q2
B191 at q2
B197 at q2
B203 at q2
B225 at s10
B231 at s10
B233 at t4
B241 at s10
W60 at p2
W182 at p2
W188 at p2
W194 at p2
W200 at p2
W228 at r10
W238 at r10
W244 at r10
Chae Keuk-mun ( ) and No Sacho ( )
Result: No Sacho ( ) +.5

34

A Picture Worth a Thousand Moves

A Graphic Celebration of Go

This issues photo was submied by Vance Dunham.

Do you have a photo that captures your love of Go? A drawing that expresses the depth of the
game? Artwork that you think should be shared? If so, send it to us at: newlseer@kgsenclave.com!
The best piece of art recieved by the next issue will be featured here!
A few quick requirements:
Please make certain the picture is high-resolution. Its not that we dont like small pictures, they just
arent magazine friendly.
All pictures need to be family friendly, nothing you wouldnt want your children or grandmother
to see.
And nally, make sure that its a picture that the whole world needs to see!

What your game says about you

Those interested in impressing others with their intelligence play chess. Those who would sele for
being chic play backgammon. Those who wish to become individuals of quality take up Go.
35

The Marketplace
Lessons
Battousai, AGA 5d

GeorgeW, Chinese 2d

Oers online teaching on both KGS

and IGS for a small, negotiable fee.
Baousai has been teaching for ve
years, and is the Enclaves premier
teacher.
Highly recommended by Enclave
sta and students!
Baousai is our oldest teacher, and I
have never been displeased with him.
His sharp tongue and fun sense of humor lend a memorability to his lessons
not paralleled by any other teacher I
know. He is also very aordable and
extremely reasonable in dealing with
students. Eric Dunham, Owner
and Founder, the KGS Enclave

Oers online teaching on KGS for

a small fee.
GeorgeW has been teaching for
two years, and highly recommended!
He is also uent in Chinese, for
anyone wishing to study with a
Chinese speaker
GeorgeW has been volunteering lessons for the Enclave for the past few
months and has done an excellent job
every time. I guarantee, personally
that he is worth his weight in gold,
not to mention the paltry price he
asks. Eric Dunham, Owner and
Founder, the KGS Enclave

Contact:
icarii@zoominternet.net

Contact: georgew@kgsenclave.
com

for pricing, questions, comments,

or to set up a lesson.

with any questions or comments,

or to set up a lesson.

Would you like to advertise here? The Enclave will post a free classied ad for anyone, including businesses. We
can advertise lessons, Go equipment, wanted ads, or anything else that reasonably ts the spot!
If youre interested in advertising anything Go-related, please send an e-mail to:
advertise@kgsenclave.com
If you have a problem with, or a question about any of the ads here, please contact:
newsletter@kgsenclave.com
36

2007 Volunteers and Contributors

In our rst year, we have had some wonderful volunteers, and some dedicated
contributors. It is thanks to the contributions of people like these that the Enclave
has been able to continue providing its services to the Go community, so we would
like to publicly thank them for their help.

Monetary Contributors
Enclave Administration: $383.86
Nathan Wall $50.00
Magnus Jensen $50.00
Felix Ufer: $38.38
Shishinn Sun: $20.00
Chedo: $20.00
Uberness: $19.87
Jonathan Nyquist: $10.00
David Boss Jr.: $5.00

Volunteer Teachers
GeorgeW [4d]
TCHATTE [2d]
Krayle [1d]
acid [1k]
hikarujr [1k]
Iink ~[1k]
Meepy ~[1k]
backpack [2k]
xioshe [2k]
Dice [3k]

Special Thanks
Vance Dunham
Alexander Rdseth
Nqua Xiong
Hu of KGS
NoKno
Zachary Dunham
Cheddot
Joshua Allen
37