Thursday, April 06, 2006

Coming-up: Mini-goban review


I won one of Yellow Mountain Imports's combo gobans at auction on eBay. These have a 13x13 grid on one side and a 9x9 on the other. It is made of kaya veneer and is 1/3 of an inch thick. The total cost, including shipping and state taxes, came to $20.42.

I could have probably made my own or bought a plywood version for about $10 on my next sojourn to Games of Berkeley. I opted for this board since I wanted something that would look appealing on the coffee table. In my upcoming review, we'll see how well this combo board complements my full-sized kaya board that I had acquired from YMI back in December 2005.

For those in the market, another attractive alternative to consider would be Samarkand's 1-inch Hiba combo board which retails for $45.


Just launched: GOAMA Newsletter from the Go Federation

Trick play for the first issue of GOAMA

Igor Grishin of the Go Federation has launched GOAMA which is intended to be an international Go email newsletter. Its main editor will be Alexandre Dinerchtein who is a Russian amateur 7D and a former Korean yeonguseng. I believe he was conferred the rank of Korean 1P.

The first issue was a little sparse but I did enjoy the commented pro game and, in particular, the one-page illustration of a Korean trick play. Of course, now that I've blogged about it, I probably won't be able to apply the trick in any of my games.


Just Launched: GoDiscussions.com


GoDiscussions was recently launched as an alternative moderated forum for discussing Go. Its administrator, Don, hopes to keep the atmosphere flame-free and family-friendly.

Any site that helps expands Go networking is rather helpful so we'll see how this one grows. I've posted a bit to the site already.

10 Comments:

At 3:51 PM, April 06, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your "trick-move" position surely looks strange. But that's no wonder since the real position is one line to the right.

 
At 4:05 PM, April 06, 2006, Blogger ChiyoDad said...

So it was! I fixed it. Thanks!

 
At 7:50 PM, April 06, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

That was fast. I wished your rank would progress as fast as you correct mistakes in your blog ;)

 
At 8:12 PM, April 06, 2006, Blogger ChiyoDad said...

Well, I can only work with what abilities and time I have.

C'est la vie!

 
At 12:06 PM, April 07, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How much time you spend on study is not so important. How and what kind of things you study is important. Especially you should play much more against stronger players.

If you like, I can give you a (free) lesson on KGS. Just tell me when you're online and I will see if I can show up.

 
At 7:45 PM, April 09, 2006, Blogger ChiyoDad said...

A challenge to learn more efficiently? Okay! I'll take a chance and see if I can meet-up with you on KGS.

 
At 10:55 AM, April 10, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What is the answer to the trick move? I'm thinking, S16 to test response, if black fixes, P17, Q18, S18, P18, hane. If black retaliates and cut, O16 first, black extends, white extends at top, black cannot hane, and white can proceed to kill off the stones at the top. If black's answer to S16 is to start the ko, then can use the weaknesses at the top to fight the ko.
Any more ideas?

 
At 7:31 PM, April 10, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A forcing move to "test response"? Of course black will not fight the Ko at s15 but connect at r15 for sure. After your sequence till white extends at n18, black can of course hane at m18 since capturing the n18 or p16 stones is miai for black.

 
At 1:01 PM, April 19, 2006, Blogger Adam said...

I have the larger hiba board from samarkand.

It's pretty sweet! It's a simple piece, so it's hard to say about it.

I have not yet made a sack or cover for it, I wish I had one. It smelled nicely cedar for a while, but that has faded with time. The lines are clear and distinct, but starting to scuff on the 9x9 side (which is more frequently down). I think some silicone feet would be nice for it, but I don't want to stick them to the board. Perhaps a small felt placemat for it?

As I look at ChiyoDad's review, I am glad mine is thicker. I don't worry about it warping or breaking. 1/3 inch seems like it would leave me worrying about it's fragility.

I wish I had more excuse to use it!

 
At 1:29 PM, April 19, 2006, Blogger Adam said...

Oh, um, the samarkand link shows a picture of a board with what looks like feet on the 9x9 side. Mine came with no such feet.

Otherwise it was very similar.

 

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