March

Posted on 2018-03-02 by John

Looking forward… March

Confucius Cup
As mentioned earlier, tonight’s Rapid has been cancelled. The hope is that the main tournament will still run over the weekend, albeit in a reduced form. Keep track of updates at http://www.irish-go.org

AGM
This was scheduled to take place tomorrow at the tournament. No word yet if that will change – http://www.irish-go.org/2018/02/11/agm-notice/

Further ahead… April

PGETC Round 8
Due to the uneven number of teams, Ireland will sit out round 7. Opponents for round 8 will be Morocco on April 17th – http://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/448

Weekly Meetings

Cork – Monday 19:00 in Mr Bradley’s on Barrack Street – https://www.facebook.com/groups/191875150950
Galway – Tuesday 19:00. Those interested should email info [at] alexander [dot] ie or call Richard on 091 555800 to confirm
Dublin – Wednesday 20:30 in Toners – http://www.irish-go.org/clubs-tournaments/dublin/
Online – Thursday 20:00-22:00 on OGS – http://www.irish-go.org/clubs-tournaments/online/
Stillorgan – Sunday 14:00-18:00 at PingZone, St Benildus College – https://www.facebook.com/groups/213994972070977/permalink/917134471757020/

Looking back… February

2017 Irish Champion
Galway’s Philippe Renaut has taken the title after his final game with Noel Mitchell – http://www.irish-go.org/2018/03/02/philippe-renaut-2017-irish-champion/

2018 Correspondance Tournament
All games started; a few have even completed already. Keep tabs at https://senseis.xmp.net/?IrishCorrespondence

PGETC Round 6
Portugal defeated Ireland 3-1 on Feb 20th – http://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/446

3rd European Professional Go Championship
Full report, including mention that Ilya Shikshin has become the first European 2p, over on the EGF site – https://www.eurogofed.org/index.html?id=192

London Go Centre Opens
London’s first Go Centre in 40 years opened last month – http://www.britgo.org/news/2018/lgcopening

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Not So Rapid Now

Posted on 2018-03-02 by John

Due to ongoing extreme weather conditions the decision has been taken to cancel the Irish Rapid on Friday night. Travel, even in Dublin itself, is very difficult. A RED weather warning remains in place today.

Regarding Saturday and Sunday. The Confucius Cup will no longer be an EGF Grand Prix event, it will still take place, but in a reduced format.

More information will be posted when we have it. The IGA can only offer its apologies to everyone who hoped to enjoy the weekend in these circumstances.

source: http://www.irish-go.org

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February

Posted on 2018-02-01 by John

Looking forward… February

PGETC Round 6
Ireland will face Portugal on Feb 20th – http://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/446

2018 Correspondance Tournament
Those who haven’t already started all their games should accept/issue challenges – https://senseis.xmp.net/?IrishCorrespondence

Further ahead… March

Details for this year’s Confucius Cup – http://www.irish-go.org/2018-confucius-cup/

If anyone is willing to host a visiting player for the duration of the tournament, kindly get in touch with the IGA – https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/irish-go/T4rvBPhpslc

Weekly Meetings
Cork – Monday 19:00 in Mr Bradley’s on Barrack Street – https://www.facebook.com/groups/191875150950
Galway – Tuesday 19:00. Those interested should email info [at] alexander [dot] ie or call Richard on 091 555800 to confirm
Dublin – Wednesday 20:30 in Toners – http://www.irish-go.org/clubs-tournaments/dublin/
Online – Thursday 20:00-22:00 on OGS – http://www.irish-go.org/clubs-tournaments/online/
Stillorgan – Sunday 14:00-18:00 at PingZone, St Benildus College – https://www.facebook.com/groups/213994972070977/permalink/917134471757020/

Looking back… January

PGETC Round 5
Ireland won 3-1 against Iceland on Jan 23rd – http://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/445

1st European Grand Prix Finale 2018
Coverageon the EGF site with some game commentaries by Antti Tormanen – https://www.eurogofed.org/index.html?id=185

Random Resource

Rosy Stein
Have your games analysed by Leela v11. Submit an sgf file for free every weekend – https://rosystein.com/index.php/how-it-works/

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January

Posted on 2018-01-07 by John

Looking forward… January

PGETC Round 5
Ireland will face Iceland on Jan 23rd – http://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/445

2018 Correspondance Tournament
Entries are closed and the tournament is underway – https://senseis.xmp.net/?IrishCorrespondence

Much further ahead… March

Full details are now available for this year’s Confucius Cup – http://www.irish-go.org/2018-confucius-cup/

If anyone is willing to host a visiting player for the duration of the tournament, kindly get in touch with the IGA – https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/irish-go/T4rvBPhpslc

Weekly Meetings
Cork – Monday 19:00 in Mr Bradley’s on Barrack Street – https://www.facebook.com/groups/191875150950
Galway – Tuesday 19:00. Those interested should email info [at] alexander [dot] ie or call Richard on 091 555800 to confirm
Dublin – Wednesday 20:30 in Toners – http://www.irish-go.org/clubs-tournaments/dublin/
Online – Thursday 20:00-22:00 on OGS – http://www.irish-go.org/clubs-tournaments/online/
Stillorgan – Sunday 14:00-18:00 at PingZone, St Benildus College – https://www.facebook.com/groups/213994972070977/permalink/917134471757020/

Cobh meetings are temporarily suspended until a new location can be arranged.

Looking back… December

PGETC Round 4
Ireland won a single game of its four against Slovenia on December 12th – http://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/444

AlphaGo Teach
Deepmind have released a tool to help find new and creative ways of playing Go – https://alphagoteach.deepmind.com

As with everything, a related channel has sprung up – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLvg67cJxYWwTD1BBp5qjvQ

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Feel obsolete yet?

Posted on 2017-12-10 by John

DeepMind’s AlphaZero Crushes Chess

a generic version of their [Deepmind’s] algorithm, with no specific knowledge other than the rules of the game, could train itself for four hours at chess … and then beat the reigning computer champions – i.e. the strongest known players

The article references a recently published paper available on arXiv – Mastering Chess and Shogi by Self-Play with a General Reinforcement Learning Algorithm.

This appears to document DeepMind’s efforts generalise AI, allowing the same solution to be applied to different problems across multiple domains. The “fully generic” AlphaZero algorithm is applied to chess, shogi, and go “without any additional domain knowledge except the rules of the game, demonstrating that a general-purpose reinforcement learning algorithm can achieve, tabula rasa, superhuman performance across many challenging domains“.

*** UPDATE ***

Additional Resources
AlphaGo Zero: Learning from scratch Deepmind blog post
Mastering the game of Go without human knowledge – Nature paper
The AI That Has Nothing to Learn From Humans
Deepmind announces AlphaGo Zero: Learning from scratch – OGS
South Korean pro strikes the first move on adapting Zero style

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December

Posted on 2017-12-04 by John

Cork Winter Olympics Edition

Cork Go Tournament 2017

The 2017 Cork Go Tournament was held over the last weekend of November. As suggested by the locals sporting the latest in arctic fashion, it was cold…

Cold weather gearSkiing anyone?

Thirteen players took part in all. Kim and Justyna, of murugandi fame, won 1st and 3rd places respectively. 2nd place was taken by Przemyslaw Dyszczyk.

Results are available on the EGD – http://www.europeangodatabase.eu/EGD/Tournament_Card.php?&key=T171125G&pin=16274137

An album of pictures from the weekend is up on facebook – https://www.facebook.com/The3rdCoyote/media_set?set=a.10215552175744024.1073741900.1428742620&type=3

Thanks to Tom and K for running another successful tournament. Hope ye are looking forward to doing it all again next year…
Unable to restrain excitement

Looking forward… December

PGETC
Ireland will face Slovenia on December 12th – http://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/444

2018 Correspondance Tournament Entry
December 15th is the last day for signups – https://senseis.xmp.net/?IrishCorrespondence

Survey
The EGF have posted a survey asking for feedback on their new site – https://www.eurogofed.org/index.html?id=176

Much further ahead… 2018

Next year’s Confucius Cup will take place from the 2nd to the 4th of March – http://www.irish-go.org/2017/10/14/dates-for-2018-confucius-cup-set/

If anyone is willing to host a visiting player for the duration of the tournament, kindly get in touch with the IGA – https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/irish-go/T4rvBPhpslc

Weekly Meetings
Cork* – Meetings have moved to Monday nights at 19:00, but are still in Mr Bradley’s on Barrack Street – https://www.facebook.com/groups/191875150950
Galway – Tuesday 19:00. Those interested should email info [at] alexander [dot] ie or call Richard on 091 555800 to confirm
Dublin – Wednesday 20:30 in Toners – http://www.irish-go.org/clubs-tournaments/dublin/
Online – Thursdays 20:00-22:00 on OGS – http://www.irish-go.org/clubs-tournaments/online/
Cobh* – Thursday 20:30 in Whitepoint – https://www.corkgo.org/?page_id=9
Stillorgan – Sunday afternoons 14:00-18:00 at PingZone, St Benildus College – https://www.facebook.com/groups/213994972070977/permalink/917134471757020/

* Some dates are doubtful this month. Best to check with one of the locals if you are thinking of attending.

Looking back… November

PGETC
Ireland conceded all 4 games in round 3 to Greece – http://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/443

92
What is thought to be the shortest official game to be counted, ending after just 92 moves, occurred at the Russian 2017 Championship between Ilja Shikshin and Vjacheslav Kajmin – https://www.eurogofed.org/index.html?id=177

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November

Posted on 2017-11-01 by John

Looking forward… November

Cork Go Tournament 2017
November 25th & 26th in St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral Hall – https://www.corkgo.org/?p=1022

PGETC
Ireland will face Greece on November 14th – http://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/443

Much further ahead… 2018

Next year’s Confucius Cup will take place from the 2nd to the 4th of March – http://www.irish-go.org/2017/10/14/dates-for-2018-confucius-cup-set/

Weekly Meetings
Cork – Meetings have moved to Monday nights at 19:00, but are still in Mr Bradley’s on Barrack Street – https://www.facebook.com/groups/191875150950
Galway – Tuesday 19:00. Those interested should email info [at] alexander [dot] ie or call Richard on 091 555800 to confirm
Dublin – Wednesday 20:30 in Toners – http://www.irish-go.org/clubs-tournaments/dublin/
Online – Thursdays 20:00-22:00 on OGS – http://www.irish-go.org/clubs-tournaments/online/
Cobh – Thursday 20:30 in Whitepoint – https://www.corkgo.org/?page_id=9
Stillorgan – Sunday afternoons 14:00-18:00 at PingZone, St Benildus College – https://www.facebook.com/groups/213994972070977/permalink/917134471757020/

Looking back… October

2017 Irish Correspondence
The winner of this year’s tournament was Irina – http://www.irish-go.org/2017/10/15/review-of-icc-2017/

Ireland back Online
The Online Go Club is once again meeting on thursdays – http://www.irish-go.org/clubs-tournaments/online/

PGETC
Ireland drew its second round 2-2 vs Cyprus – http://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/442#2

25 Years EGCC Anniversary Tournament
The European Go Cultural Centre in Amstelveen celebrates its 25 year existence – http://www.go-centre.nl/Events/AnniversaryTournament.php

How to review a Yearbook
Interview with Kim Ouweleen – https://www.eurogofed.org/index.html?id=153

AlphaGo: Reboot
AlphaGo Zero learns to play simply by playing games against itself – https://deepmind.com/blog/alphago-zero-learning-scratch/

Thanks to those who have provided updates from around the country.

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