My experiences from the 2015 U.S. Go Congress

Inkwolf · Post by **Inkwolf** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 7:45 pm

Here are some photos from the 2015 Go Congress...

The campus was very beautiful, and had a fresh-scrubbed feel to it.

Had to walk past the football field on the way to the dorms every day. There were lacrosse practice games and other things going on often.

Inkwolf · Post by **Inkwolf** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 7:52 pm

This is the Anderson building, where most of the events took place.

Registration on Day 1. This room later became the Youth Go room.

Here is the main playing room, all prepared for the congress.

Inkwolf · Post by **Inkwolf** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 8:16 pm

Each morning, we would get up, have breakfast, and head for the main playing room to wait for the daily US Open Game pairings to be listed. The Ing clocks were a bit intimidating, but a young girl in my bracket was familiar with them, and set clocks for all those of us unfamiliar with them. After a day or two, clock-setting instructions were put out on the table. The secret of setting an Ing clock: If hitting "set" does not do what you want it to, hit "mode."

After your game, if you had recorded it, you had the option to take it to a pro and ask to have it analyzed. In the hall/lobby outside the main playing room, each day a schedule was posted listing which pros were on duty, where they would be, and what events were taking place. There were also sign-up sheets for simultaneous games against pros, other tournaments and events. (Large so you can read it if you want.)

Also in the lobby was a table displaying some interesting old Go memorabilia.

Inkwolf · Post by **Inkwolf** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 8:35 pm

Men outnumbered women by quite a bit, and the Pair Go tournament required each team to be a man and a woman. Apparently, this was because pair go had been introduced as a way to encourage players to bring more female players into the game. All week, the female players were asked to be partners at Pair Go, and mostly had to regretfully answer that we already had a partner.

The youth/adult pair go was run the same way, and I was recruited to be a boy's partner.

Paul Barchelon made this awesome floor go set for the youth area. Something I'm going to copy for my library! Oh, by the way, we all wore those name/rank tags all the time every day. It made it easy to find someone your own level to play! (Also made an awesome souvenir.) In addition to the scheduled events, you could play self-paired games with other players, and report the results to be tallied toward your AGA rating.

Inkwolf · Post by **Inkwolf** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 8:57 pm

The Haylee vs Nick event was very entertaining. Haylee commented that she was not used to an audience, that she was ordinarily just facing her wall. She did not seem to be disturbed at all, though. There was a bit of unplanned audience participation, though. Whenever Haylee said, "Hmmm, should I do this or not?" everybody (especially one kid in the front row) shouted, "YES, YES! DO IT!" Here she is with Nick, reviewing the game. with Andrew Jackson nearby. (Sorry for the bad lighting.) Haylee commented that she had not had trouble thinking because the audience had been mostly very quiet, and Nick shouted at us, "Weren't ANY of you on MY side?!" As has been noted, the internet went out, so a rematch was planned for later int he week. Sadly, I missed the second game (Haylee vs Nick: The Renickification!) due to a scheduling conflict.

Wednesday was the day off. Some people stayed for the Diehard tournament. I went on the riverboat trip. It was very nice and relaxing...but I think just about everyone on the boat played Go on their phone and tablet apps at some point.

I have some pictures from the semifinals and awards banquet I will post when Calvin is done with his report. I have to say I had a wonderful time, and the best part of all of it was being surrounded by people who knew what Go was, played at around my level, and wanted to play!

goTony · Post by **goTony** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 8:20 pm

Great photos thanks for sharing. I am sure the Haylee/Nick game was lots of fun. Looks like a wonderful location.

Are u going next year?

Inkwolf · Post by **Inkwolf** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:50 am

Thanks!

goTony wrote: Are u going next year?

Me? Probably not. I was able to afford it this year because it was close enough to drive, and the library where I work and run the Go club picked up the entire bill out of the training budget! While I could possibly scrape up the fees, expenses and airfare by next year, I don't think I could justify spending it on a wild week of Go paradise.

And certainly could not ask the library to send me again. (I emptied half the training budget for the entire year...small-town library. I'm so lucky they sent me!)

But by the time it is in the midwest again, I hope to be better able to afford it.

Calvin Clark · Post by **Calvin Clark** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:51 am

Inkwolf wrote:I went on the riverboat trip. It was very nice and relaxing...but I think just about everyone on the boat played Go on their phone and tablet apps at some point.

Thanks for the photos! I did not go an a trip this time, but rather slept in. I guess if you had a magnetic board you could play a more realistic game on a boat, but a real board would be a bit awkward to due to frequent use of the "wave tesuji."

goTony · Post by **goTony** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 10:11 am

Inkwolf wrote:Thanks!

goTony wrote: Are u going next year?

Me? Probably not. I was able to afford it this year because it was close enough to drive, and the library where I work and run the Go club picked up the entire bill out of the training budget! While I could possibly scrape up the fees, expenses and airfare by next year, I don't think I could justify spending it on a wild week of Go paradise. And certainly could not ask the library to send me again. (I emptied half the training budget for the entire year...small-town library. I'm so lucky they sent me!)

But by the time it is in the midwest again, I hope to be better able to afford it.

Work related education good for you! Have you ever sponsored a GO demo day at the library? And do you have the Hikaru series in paperback or video?

Boston next year. Expensive..... Wish it was on the west coast.

Calvin Clark · Post by **Calvin Clark** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 11:16 am

Days 5-6:

Day 5 was the Wednesday, the trip day. I was pretty beat so I mostly slept in. Later on I took a jog to the Mississippi river, which is not far away from the campus. (I did this in the evening most days.)

I have a few scattered memories that don't fit into any category, so I'll just group them here.

Teacher's Workshop

I attended 2 sessions of the Teacher's Workshop, just for a change of pace. Coincidentally, both of them were lead by Kim Myeong-wan 9p. The first one was about using mathematical endgame theory to encourage teaching go in schools. I enjoy this topic, but I think I think many of the attendees were confused by the presentation, which I'd say is at about the level of the SL article Miai Counting with Trees, although he used deiri values rather than miai ones (no application or mention of local tally until he gets to ko, which seems inconsistent to me so even I was confused. I think he was only able to cover a fraction of his presentation. For an audience who mostly had never seen it before, it certainly takes more time to explain than he had. However, I think that the point was made that math teachers could use endgame theory to introduce go to their students.

The second workshop session I attended was excellent. It covered afterschool programs and was lead by Kim Myeong-wan 9p and an official from the KBA (or was it KABA?). It seems there are 5000 schools in Korea with any kind of afterschool program (the most popular are English, art, and piano) and that new 50% of them have an afterschool baduk program, too. This all got started in the past few years, so progress has been rapid. The average afterschool baduk teacher in Korea is a 10 kyu married woman. We were told that the schedule (4-6pm 1-2 days per week at about 3 schools) works well as a part-time job and they do get paid. (Good luck with that in the West.) Another interesting thing that was mentioned is that the baduktopia.com videos, which Myeong-wan says were useful in his class because kids like them, are going to be translated into English and so those will be available to teachers. It was fascinating to hear how baduk is taught in afterschool programs in Korea, but the challenge for teachers in the West remains.

I was inspired by the two sessions I attended in the Teacher's Workshop and maybe next year I'll complete the 8 hours required to get an AGA certificate, though I'm not sure how to find the time do anything with it.

Inseong Hwang

Inseong Hwang EGF 8d, attended the USGC and gave a few lectures. When he wasn't on the schedule the first day, I wondered if he'd run into the Bruce Wilcox problem. (It's before my time, but I recalled hearing that it was somewhat controversial that Bruce Wilcox, an amateur, was teaching at the USGC.) On later days he was on the posted schedule, so I guess it was okay. I attended one of his talks. Previously, I had seen only his free videos on yunguseng.com. In person he is very charismatic, like a good businessman or cult leader. (Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference

). I had considered joining his school for a semester, but the time commitment seemed prohibitive and of course it costs money. His lectures are well organized and he provided handouts. Certainly I'd say he classroom teaching is on par with with, say, Guo Juan 5p or Yilun Yang 7p. Other than Kirby, I had talked to one other player who had joined his online go school for season, who also said good things about it. (In particular, this player said that it had help him catch up after not playing for about 3 years.) So it will be interesting to see if Inseong can keep up with what must be a frantic pace considering the sheer number of reviews.

Inkwolf · Post by **Inkwolf** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:21 pm

Cool, thanks for he commentary on the pro workshops! I somehow managed not to get to any, though I attended the same teaching seminar about afterschool programs and teaching games.

I also attended the teaching seminars about teaching beginners, and about the teaching game. I have to confess, my approach beginners is opposite to Chris Kirschner's. He goes by tiny little baby steps so as not to overwhelm the new player. I usually tell the new player how the game works, then throw them in at the deep end, figuring that by the end of three or four heavily-coached 9x9 games, they will have an adequate basic understanding of what they are doing. On the other hand, my method does not work so well when I have a group instead of one or two individuals.

Have you ever sponsored a GO demo day at the library? And do you have the Hikaru series in paperback or video?

Yes to all.

goTony · Post by **goTony** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:31 pm

Inkwolf wrote:Cool, thanks for he commentary on the pro workshops! I somehow managed not to get to any, though I attended the same teaching seminar about afterschool programs and teaching games.

I also attended the teaching seminars about teaching beginners, and about the teaching game. I have to confess, my approach beginners is opposite to Chris Kirschner's. He goes by tiny little baby steps so as not to overwhelm the new player. I usually tell the new player how the game works, then throw them in at the deep end, figuring that by the end of three or four heavily-coached 9x9 games, they will have an adequate basic understanding of what they are doing. On the other hand, my method does not work so well when I have a group instead of one or two individuals.

Have you ever sponsored a GO demo day at the library? And do you have the Hikaru series in paperback or video?

Yes to all.

How has the response been with the videos and demo?

Calvin Clark · Post by **Calvin Clark** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:57 pm

Inkwolf wrote:I usually tell the new player how the game works, then throw them in at the deep end, figuring that by the end of three or four heavily-coached 9x9 games, they will have an adequate basic understanding of what they are doing.

This reminder me of something else that came up during the afterschool program talk: 9x9 vs. 19x19. In Korea 70% of afterschool teacher prefer starting students on 19x19, 30% on 9x9, roughly, although there was some mention of smaller boards than 9x9. There is some disagreement even there.

Myeong-wan said that he was personally taught on 19x19, as were most professionals, but there is some value in capture-go as most students you teach will never become pros. It takes some time to break the capturing habit in his opinion. Yet---and this is the point where I wonder if I misheard---in his classes he teaches capture go. First capture-1, then capture-2, up to maybe capture-5 after which students are more ready for real go. Students typically spend a semester (3 months) on capture go.

xed_over · Post by **xed_over** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:13 pm

Calvin Clark wrote:
Inkwolf wrote:I usually tell the new player how the game works, then throw them in at the deep end, figuring that by the end of three or four heavily-coached 9x9 games, they will have an adequate basic understanding of what they are doing.

This reminders me of something else that came up during the afterschool program talk: 9x9 vs. 19x19. In Korea 70% of afterschool teacher prefer starting students on 19x19, 30% on 9x9, roughly, although there was some mention of smaller boards than 9x9. There is some disagreement even there.

Myeong-wan said that he was personally taught on 19x19, as were most professionals, but there is some value in capture-go as most students you teach will never become pros. It takes some time to break the capturing habit in his opinion. Yet---and this is the point where I wonder if I misheard---in his classes he teaches capture go. First capture-1, then capture-2, up to maybe capture-5 after which students are more ready for real go. Students typically spend a semester (3 months) on capture go.

I missed that last session at the Congress (as it was essentially a last minute, and mostly unannounced addition to the schedule, and I had prior scheduling conflicts), but I got to hear his same presentation at the Seattle Go Center last Monday night (a week after the Congress).

Its true that he expresses concerns about instilling a habit of capturing, but at the same time, he also stresses to his students, as do I, that its not about capturing -- its about learning not to be captured. That way, when no one is captured, its a quick step to the concept of territory, so that you can move on to regular Go.

xed_over · Post by **xed_over** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:38 pm

Inkwolf wrote:I also attended the teaching seminars about teaching beginners, and about the teaching game. I have to confess, my approach beginners is opposite to Chris Kirschner's. He goes by tiny little baby steps so as not to overwhelm the new player. I usually tell the new player how the game works, then throw them in at the deep end, figuring that by the end of three or four heavily-coached 9x9 games, they will have an adequate basic understanding of what they are doing. On the other hand, my method does not work so well when I have a group instead of one or two individuals.

Growing up (so to speak) at the Seattle Go Center (I discovered them around 2003-4), I'm fully versed in their (Chris') teaching methods, and have seen first hand the benefits (though I myself learned on a 19x19). I jumped leaps and bounds in my own understanding as I quickly learned to apply those methods in my own teaching attempts.

Though I usually go much quicker and don't dwell on capture go for too long anymore -- depending on how quickly the student begins to understand. I'm more flexible now and everyone I teach is different. Some get it, some don't. And its not usually about you (the teacher), but the methods can help with slower learners.

If you haven't tried it, I fully recommend you give it a try. If it doesn't work well enough, then stop using it. But I honestly think you'll learn something useful just in the trying

I've posted elsewhere (I'll have to find them) about my specific methods (mostly learned from the Seattle Go Center)... capture go with ladder exercise, then net, then capture on 5x5, then 7x7, then with cross-cut starting pattern on 9x9, then regular go on 9x9...etc. Useful stuff to learn at every step.

Life In 19x19

My experiences from the 2015 U.S. Go Congress

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