Blog On Hiatus

I'm announcing that UnlimitedGo is now on hiatus. I'm busy right now working on my undergraduate thesis and couldn't spend as much times as I could to browse and look at professional games. I will return perhaps at the last quarter of the year.

I'll see you again guys :)

Hey, It's 1 Week Already

I can't believe that one week already passed by in 2012. I was not really active in 2011 and I hope I can be as active as I was in 2010 and continue to write in this blog. Keep on checking this blog guys  and follow my Twitter @biondyalfian to see more updates about professional go news.

I hope 2012 will be a blast for everybody. :)

Be Back Soon

I'm sorry for not updating at all for the past week. I'm busy with my final exams and final project at the moment, so I can't get some leisure time to post. I'll post again as soon as my project finished (and I already miss some big events. Honinbo, LG). It may take 3 or 4 days. Thank you guys :)

Follow UnlimitedGo By E-Mail

You can now follow UnlimitedGo by email. Just subscribe your e-mail at the "Follow by e-mail" box below the chat box.

Now you can receive update information via e-mail every time I post a new entry. Enjoy :D

KGS to Change Kibitz Policy

It seems that KGS made an important change about the TOS. What do you think about this?

Important: Terms of service changed, effective immediately
There have always been countless complains about the kibitz in games on KGS. Offtopic chat, spamming and flooding, rude and idiotic remarks were not as unusual as one ought to hope.

Lately though, this issue became more salient, to the point that both the admins and the users could not ignore it any longer. Therefore, the senior admins together with wms developed a new policy to address the problem at hand and hopefully provide a sufficient and acceptable solution for everyone.

The new policy takes effect immediately and consists of these changes to the terms of service (TOS):

* ANY non-game related chat as well as any kind of flooding is not allowed and will be punished by immediate booting. No warning will be given (!). Since this is going to be very common, there is no block duration ("ban"), victims may come back right away. Repeated offenders will be banned as necessary, though.

* Rude and snarky remarks (including, but not limited to “ is weak”) will be punished by a ban for no less than 1 day. The obession of some users with calling out the "obvious mistakes" of 9-dan-players will not be tolerated.

In the first few days after introduction of the new TOS, some users may not yet be aware of the changes yet. We encourage everyone to tell their friends about it as soon as possible, since there will be NO interim arrangement.
We are very sorry to have to resort to these measures, but we firmly believe this benefits the KGS community in the long run.

To ensure enforcement of the new TOS, new junior admins will be recruited. We have already designated a large range of people and keep looking for more. Please do NOT apply to be an admin: Don’t call us, we’ll call you!

Sharing Widget

I just successfully adding a sharing widget to this blog. Feel free to use them to share your favorite news to your friends :)

China-USA "Go Diplomacy"

President Obama has a dinner guest this evening: the President of China, Hu Jintao. It's just an informal dinner tonight, with the big state dinner and full diplomatic press later in the week.

The White House has apparently included some unusual guests in the official welcoming ceremony on Wednesday: members of the American Go Association.

Go is a 4,000 year old board game played with black and white pebbles. It's more popular in China than Angry Birds is to smart phone users in the US. You can read and hear more about it here:

http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/09/07/go-convention/

When President Obama visited China last year, he brought President Hu a present: an American-made Go board and glass bowls, plus Go stones donated by American Go professional (yes, there are some folks making a living by playing this game!) Feng Yun.


Barack Obama

Go enthusiasts say the game itself could serve as a metaphor and help US/Chinese relations. In Go, the best strategy utilizes the long view, with ongoing trades between players rather than all out victory as the goal.


Hu Jintao

It wouldn't be the first time odd sports were used to break the ice with China. Remember "ping pong diplomacy"? That was back in 1971 when an American table tennis team received an invitation to come to China to play.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/china/peopleevents/pande07.html

Those games led to a thawing of the relationship between the US and China and President Nixon's trip there in 1972.

Somehow though, "Go diplomacy" sounds more like a cheer than the clever name of a political strategy.

http://www.usgo.org

Source: http://www.scpr.org/blogs/kitty-felde/2011/01/18/go-diplomacy-be-used-chinas-president-hu/?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d39a548de32cfce%2C0

Mok Jinseok Got Married

Happy news from South Korea. After Lee Changho's marriage several months ago, another Korean top player, Mok Jinseok (9 dan), recently got married. His bride is Kim Minjung.


Mok Jinseok and Kim Minjung

It was a big party with about 1000 people came to celebrate that happy day.


A lor of people

I wish the best for their marriage :)

Happy New Year!!

So, it's new year again. Geez... It seems that 1 January 2010 was only yesterday..

I hope that this year will be better than last year. Enjoy the new year guys :)

Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas everybody. I hope you can have a merry little christmas with people you love. I'm sorry I still can't post often because I still have many tasks to do. Sorry guys...

Will Back Soon

I won't be able to post for awhile because I'm currently facing my final test. I'll be back in a week or two. Sorry guys :)

Computer Beat Shogi Pro

It's not a big deal for a chess software to beat top player in an even match, but the story is different in shogi, since it has more possibility than chess (the ability to drop pieces in shogi makes it more complex than chess).

A computer has taken down top women's shogi player Ichiyo Shimizu in a special game staged at the University of Tokyo, moving development of software for the Japanese chess game a step ahead.


Ichiyo Shimizu

The game lasted six hours and three minutes. Shimizu, a professional shogi, or Japanese chess, player, has won titles at 45 competitions, the most of any female player.

The shogi system, titled "Akara 2010," defeated Shimizu, holder of the women's Osho title, in 86 moves.

"It made no eccentric moves, and from partway through it felt like I was playing against a human. I'm a bit frustrated by the loss, but I gained respect for the people who took part in developing the software," Shimizu said. "I hope humans and computers will become stronger in the future through friendly competition."

"Akara," after which the shogi system was named, is a Buddhist term meaning "10 to the power of 224," a figure close to the total possible number of unique shogi games. The system combines four shogi software programs -- Gekisashi, GPS Shogi, YSS and Bonanza -- and selects the best move through a majority.

In the game with Shimizu, each side had three hours. Akara 2010 played with a "ranging rook" strategy, offering an exchange of bishops. Shimizu made a questionable move partway though the game, and Akara went on to win.

The game was staged after the Information Processing Society of Japan approached the Japan Shogi Association and suggested holding the match.

Society member Hitoshi Matsubara, a professor at Future University Hakodate, said the computer's win came after decades of work.

"I started developing shogi software 35 years ago, and for the software to become this strong is enough for me to forget all the hard work."

In 2005, the Japan Shogi Association introduced a ban on professional members playing shogi computers without permission. The latest game was the first human versus computer game approved by the association since Ryuo champion Akira Watanabe defeated Bonanza in 2007.

Will future go software will also able to beat human in an even game? If yes, how far that future is? Only time will tell.

Free Simulatenous Teaching Game

WBaduk will hold an event for 2 weeks where you'll have chances to play 8 professionals and 6 very strong Korean amateur in a simultan game.

Check out the info here

Women In Go

A blog covering female world of igo/baduk/weiqi. Including players profile, tournament results, game records, and photos.

Visit Women In Go =D

Plurk Account

I just created a Plurk account. You can reach me at here.

I'm still learning how to use it tough :D

New Go Forum

There is a new go forum called Life In 19X19

Seems to be a blog that try to cover the problem old forum Go Discussions has (which seem to be worse)...

Middle Exam

I'm currently in my middle semester exams. I can't update the blog until, perhaps, next week.

Sorry guys =_=

Women In Go

Don't forget to visit my new blog Women In Go

A blog covering about what's going on at the female go world. It also has player profile, tsumego, and game record section.

New Blog

I created a new blog. It is a go blog dedicated for female players at the go world.
Check it out!

http://womeningo.blogspot.com/

New Template

I change the template from the old Cosmic template to this Chinese Art template.

Hope you like it :)